Bitter Cold
by honeysuckelvine
Summary: After weeks of being cold, Naruto falls into even more trouble and Kakashi realizes that his heart will freeze if they boy dies. Might have a noughty second chap I won't be able to poste here, will let you know!


Title: Bitter Cold

Rating: G

Pairing: Kaka/Naru

Disclaimer: I only whish I owned Naruto

Summery: After weeks of being cold, Naruto falls into even more trouble and Kakashi realizes that his heart will freeze if they boy dies.

Note: Response to a frostbite challenge on lj sight, Under the Mask.

Beta: The lovely Amy!

'God I'm cold!' thought Naruto on his way to training one December morning.

He was on his way to meet his team for their usual three hour wait for Kakashi and then training or missions. He was really hopping for a mission in a warm environment.

Poor Naruto was so chilled that he could barely stand it. A cold front had come through about a week and a half ago and he hadn't felt warm since.

He spent every day outside with his team and his apartment had no heat. He used to use an electric blanket to keep warm in the winter but his rent recently rose that resulted in his electricity being turned off due to lack of funds.

"Stupid rat hole of and apartment!" He quietly muttered.

The nights were getting colder and he was in serious trouble if he didn't warm up soon! One of the downsides to being as warm blooded as the Kyuubi made him was that he was more susceptible to the frosty weather.

Looking up he realized that he had reached the bridge, "Sakura-chan!" He sang out loudly.

As expected, the pink haired girl huffed in annoyance at her teammate's exuberance. Truth be told, he had to be energetic in hopes of stirring up his blood.

"Sasuke-temi." He directed at the stiff brunet.

"Hn" was the predictable response.

Sighing in defeat, Naruto attended to the task of keeping his blood circulating by doing some light exercises like jogging in place and push ups.

Sasuke quirked an eye brow at the blond, "What are you doing Dobe?"

Not even pausing, Naruto answered distractedly, "Keeping occupied so that three hours of my day won't be wasted like usual." He lied convincingly.

Glancing at each other, his teammates realized that he was right about wasted time and reluctantly joined him.

Twenty minutes later, they all fell over in shock when their Jounin Sensei poofed into being before them. "Finally!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Squealed Sakura.

Kakashi smirked behind his mask do to what he was about to reveal, "I have been trying since the beginning to get you three to take the initiative and start without me instead of just being lazy! I can't believe that it took you four years to start without me and that Naruto was the one to start it off!" He laughed.

Naruto would normally have taken offence but fortunately for his teacher, Naruto was far too frozen to care about anything other than trying to warm up a bit. Sakura and Sasuke had so such problems and laid into the silver haired man for another twenty minutes until said Jounin had had enough and explained their mission to them.

"Konoha's polar bear club is doing their annual swim today and it will be your duty to pass out the towels." The evil glint in his eye told them that Kakashi had especially picked out the nastiest mission he could.

Almost afraid to ask, Sakura hesitantly approached her teacher, "What is a polar bear club?"

He laughed softly, "A large group, mostly town elders, who gather together every year to swim naked in the Konoha River."

She blinked stupidly before screaming at the top of her lungs that she refused to witness naked wrinkled asses diving into ice water.

Kakashi merely handed her the towels and led the way.

It might not have been so bad really, all they had to do was pass out towels and keep their eyes aimed up. The group certainly had enough fun to make the job amusing. The problem came in when someone realized that the Kyuubi container was standing near the water and pushed him in.

The intense shock of the cold nearly stopped Naruto's heart, he quickly began to sink and as his lungs filed with water, he felt the first wash of warmth to engulf him in weeks. Wanting more of the pleasant feeling he allowed himself to sink further.

When a pair of strong hands grabbed his arms, he lightly struggled to remain where he was. The hands where very insistent though and he felt himself dragged from the water and dumped onto the shore.

Naruto's eyes refused to open and his chest burned for oxygen. He felt himself tip to the side and a firm pat on the back expelled the river from his lungs. He coughed violently for a long time. Looking up he realized that Kakashi had pulled him out and gotten very cold and wet in the process.

"Way to go Dobe." Was his teammate's sarcastic way of saying, 'Are you all right?'

Being well versed in Sasuke speech, Naruto nodded his reply.

"All right team," Kakashi said brightly, "Naruto and I need to go home and dry off so I will trust you two to turn in the report to the Hokage." Having said what he needed to, Kakashi disappeared and Naruto slowly got to his feet. His shivers racked his body so violently that he almost fell back to the ground.

"Naruto?" Sakura sounded concerned.

"I'll be fine." He stuttered. Smiling reassuringly, he set off for his home.

He was trembling uncontrollably and by the time he reached his crappy apartment, his clothing had half frozen. He painstakingly peeled the stiff fabric from his chaffed white skin. Seeing the lack of color to his skin he cursed under his breath.

The poor boy donned every scrap of clothes he owned and wrapped up in two thin sheets and a comforter that had seen better days. Shivering and coughing he fought to keep his eyes open by pacing up and down his floor.

He knew that the worst thing he could possibly do would be to fall asleep when he was this cold. The Kyuubi could heal the frostbite tomorrow but he couldn't heal a stopped heart tonight. He stomped his feet and slapped his hands under his armpits to bring blood to his fingers and toes.

He sang silly songs and recited the alphabet in an attempt to keep his brain working. All he wanted to do was slide to the floor and sleep but he knew that he couldn't. He repeated it over and over to himself. "Don't fall asleep! Don't fall asleep!" Before he knew what was happening, he was huddled against the wall whispering his mantra over and over. "Don't fall asleep!"

Just as his eyes slid shut for an extra long blink, a soft knock was heard at his door. Naruto wanted to respond but his mouth would only whisper his one chosen phrase, "Don't fall asleep!"

The knock repeated itself after a short time. His eyes slid shut again and he heard his door lock being picked. "Naruto?" It sounded like Kakashi-sensei.

"Don't fall asleep." Naruto whispered softly.

"Naruto!" A pair of feet pounded across the bare floor and he felt himself being lifted into the air.

"Don't worry Naruto! I've got you!" Naruto painstakingly forced his eyes open enough to see his silver haired teacher holding him close.

"Don't fall asleep." Naruto rasped out with effort.

Surprised, Kakashi glanced down at the sweet face below him, "That's right Naruto! Don't fall asleep! I will get you to Tsunade as fast as I can!"

Seconds later they where flying across the village to the Hokage's office. Kakashi knew that Naruto's only hope was to get to the woman who saw him as a son. The hospital was closer but Naruto would never be treated well there and Kakashi knew that to take him there would be a death sentence for the sixteen year old.

Tsunade was diligently signing papers under Shizune's watchful eye when Kakashi burst into her office. "Help him!" The Jounin cried out. "He fell into the river at about 11:00 this morning and when I went to check on him at home I found him like this."

"What?" The temperamental woman hollered.

Kakashi carefully deposited his precious bundle on the couch against the wall, "His place was colder than the outside. I don't think that he has any heat and the stuff he is wrapped up in appeared to be all the fabric in the place. His clothes from earlier were so frozen that they were practically standing up on their own!" He babbled in distress.

"Don't fall asleep." Naruto wheezed.

Kakashi turned to his leader frightened, "He just keeps repeating that over and over!"

The two medic-nin rushed over to the shivering boy and got straight to work. Tsunade began to work on slowly warming his organs while Shizune used her chakra like a screen to keep frozen blood clots from entering his heart or lungs. "I need Sakura." Tsunade demanded.

Kakashi stared at his student's white face blankly until Tsunade yelled at him to, "Get Sakura here now!"

Not wanting to leave, he summoned Pakkun to his side. "Naruto is in trouble! Get Sakura as fast as you can! She should be in the missions office by now."

The small dog was off like a shot. About six minutes later, the frazzled konichi was slamming through the door with Sasuke hot on her heels. "What happened?" She demanded.

Tsunade barked out her orders, "Protect his brain from clots and start to warm his upper body while I work on his lower torso and limbs!" The urgency in her voice set the girl in motion. The small dog nipped at his owners pant leg gently. "What happened?" He asked in his deep voice.

Kakashi shook himself from his worry long enough to explain. "His place was so cold!" He finished. "He must have started the day cold. Hell, Naruto must have started the week cold and falling into the river sure didn't do him any favors!" The man raged.

"I don't get it." Said Sasuke, "He gets the same pay as we do, why is he living in such bad circumstances?"

Kakashi sighed, "For the same reason that the bastard at the river pushed him in."

"What!" Screeched the Hokage.

"Tsunade-sama!" Admonished Shizune. "Don't lose focus!" Looking contrite, the blond resumed her slow work. A frozen person has to be heated very slowly or the flesh will die. They had to be very thorough so that all skin and appendages could be saved and to keep blood clots from giving him an aneurysm or stroke.

Kakashi continued to explain to Sasuke, "The people of this village treat him like a second class citizen and he won't tell us so that we won't worry about him. Because of this, he goes without the things he needs like heat and blankets so that we are happy in our ignorance." He grimly stated.

The two men stood to the side nervously while the women did their work. Hours passed without much sound. Iruka was sent for near the beginning and after receiving an explanation, he sat at Naruto's feet and gently rubbed.

"That's good Iruka sensei! That will help the circulation in his toes." Encouraged Sakura.

"Can we help too?" asked Sasuke hopefully.

Shizune nodded, "Rubbing his hands and ears would be good." She said.

Each man took one side and began to work on his fingers and ears to bring some heat to the icy flesh.

The sun had long since gone to bed when the three medic-nin declared their patient all right and out of the woods. All occupants of the room looked relieved and excited.

"I'm worn out!" Exclaimed Tsunade. Knowing that they were all still worried, she suggested that they all go to her place so that they could get some rest and keep and eye on Naruto at the same time.

Too tired to argue, the whole group trooped out to her home and gently wrapped the dear boy up in the biggest bed in the place. Iruka climbed in on one side with Tsunade at his back. Kakashi slid in on Naruto's other side and Shizune fell into the recliner in the corner. Sasuke stood at the foot of the bed awkwardly until Sakura shoved him onto the bed to lay with her across the foot area. Being a king sized bed, they were all safe from falling out in the night.

They all fell into a deep sleep with the secure knowledge that the blond imp they all loved was safe from harm and warm as could be.

A peaceful night passed and late in the morning, Naruto stirred from his slumber. 'Hmm! Warmth! I feel warmth!' He thought to himself. Stretching languidly, he realized two other things. One, his whole body hurt terribly. Second, he was part of a Naruto sandwich because two very thermal bodies flanked him.

Cracking one eye open, he found his favorite academy teacher curled up against his left side. Turning to the right, he found silver hair and a single dark eye trained upon his face. "Kakashi-sensei?" He whispered.

Kakashi's hand trembled as he stroked Naruto's cheek with care. "I thought that I was going to lose you." Kakashi said so quietly that Naruto had to strain to hear him.

"I'm sorry." The boy whispered back sadly. He felt bad for having caused such worry. Looking around he realized just how much trouble he had caused.

"Don't you dare apologize!" Kakashi whispered furiously. "The only thing you did wrong was to not come to any of us. We all want the best for you because we all… I…" Kakashi stared at Naruto in surprise for a heart beat before speaking again. "Naruto… I love you and I don't want you to ever keep your pain from me again!"

Naruto's eyes grew impossibly wide! "You what?" He breathed.

Kakashi swallowed hard, "I love you Naru-chan!" He carefully lowered his mask and leaned into the blond energy ball. He gave Naruto plenty of time to pull away but was overjoyed when the young man leaned in instead. Their lips met in the sweetest of kisses and one of them sighed happily.

The kiss would have probably continued for a lot longer had the clapping not started. "It's about time!" Shouted Tsunade. "You two have been dancing around each other for far too long!"

"What?" squeaked Naruto.

Iruka patted his favorite student's arm comfortingly, "It's been pretty obvious that you two have had strong feelings for each other for a long time now Naruto." He smiled kindly. His eyes hardened however when he turned to the Jounin, "Hurt him and you will learn the real meaning of the word pain!" He growled.

Kakashi swallowed hard again.

"Alright!" Iruka cheered happily, "Lets all get up, get breakfast going and freshen up!" He proceeded to herd everyone but Kakashi and Naruto from the room regardless of their protests.

Alone at last, the two ninja gazed uneasily at each other. Having had enough, Kakashi threw caution to the wind and seized his love in a tight embrace. "I was so scared that I would lose you before I ever got to tell you how I feel." Kakashi murmured. "I love you Naru-koi, and I don't ever want to let you go."

Naruto relaxed into the firm hug and snuggled against the warm chest. "Then don't!"


End file.
